Donal Mosher

Faith, love and civil rights collide on voting day in a small Southern town that hosts a famous performance of the last days of Christ and an infamous gospel drag show.

October Country is a beautifully filmed portrait of an American family struggling for stability while haunted by the ghosts of war, teen pregnancy, foster care and child abuse. With rarely seen intimacy, sensitivity and respect, this vibrant documentary examines the forces that unsettle the working poor and the violence that lurks beneath the surface of American life.

Two years ago, IDFA on Stage featured Spectral Transmissions, a multimedia piece by performer-filmmakers Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher in which ghost stories offered solace in the anxious days of COVID. Now they are back with a new edition. Rather than focusing on fear and horror, this time they explore the unfathomable and sometimes uncanny power of love. In many ghost stories it is the power of love—for childhood friends, for family members, for animals—that bends time.

Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher bring their curated audio works to the stage with help from a host of celebrated filmmakers and writers. Though created during during lockdown, with artists contributing from a distance, this program returns us to the communal thrills and comforts of storytelling, music, and performance.